


Five Times Matt and Abby didn't go on a Date, and One Time they Did

by Annariel



Category: Primeval
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-30
Updated: 2012-12-30
Packaged: 2017-11-22 23:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/615733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annariel/pseuds/Annariel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thanks to Frebassett for beta-reading</p>
    </blockquote>





	Five Times Matt and Abby didn't go on a Date, and One Time they Did

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kalisgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalisgirl/gifts).



> Thanks to Frebassett for beta-reading

1\. "Becker, take Connor and Emily back with you. I'll take Abby," Matt ordered.

No one objected. Matt watched as they all tramped back towards the SUVs. Everyone was muddy and, Matt suspected, sore. The compsognathus' hadn't been particularly dangerous but there had been an awful lot of running and scrambling around in the muddy woodland trying to catch them all.

"Thanks." Abby dropped back to walk next to him.

Matt shrugged attempting to show it wasn't meant to be a big deal. "Jess told me about you and Connor this morning. I assume you don't particularly want to be stuck in the car with him for the next hour."

"Yeah! It's a bit tense." She offered him a wan smile. "We thought telling Jess was probably the best way to let everyone know though."

Matt smiled back at her. He was fairly sure Jess had told everyone within the space of an hour. 

"They don't want a big fuss made, but just wanted people to know," Jess had said before dashing off to warn Becker.

* * *

They drove in silence for fifteen minutes or so. It was beginning to get dark and Matt realised he was hungry. He spotted a pub sign up ahead on the road.

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked. "I'm famished."

"Sure. It beats eating back at the flat."

Matt pulled into the pub car park. "You still sharing the flat?"

"Just until we can both find somewhere else, but yeah. Neither of us can really afford to move out just like that."

"Sounds tough."

Abby sighed. "It's never easy is it, splitting up."

"I wouldn't know." And Matt felt that peculiar stab of loss he still sometimes had when reminded of how different his childhood had been from everyone else's.

"Sorry." Abby nudged his shoulder gently.

"No, nothing to apologise for. Come on! Let's get some food."

* * *

The pub was soporifically warm. They picked a small table towards the back with a wooden bench running against the wall and two old wooden chairs opposite. Matt watched as Abby leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. He pushed a half of bitter towards her. She curled her fingers around it and opened her eyes.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Just Tetleys, seemed like a safe choice." Matt took a sip of his own half.

"Thanks! Did you order food?"

"They had some kind of vegetarian sharing platter. I asked for that. There must be something there you'd like."

Abby flicked open the menu and glanced at the description, then she nodded. "That'll be fine."

Matt was more concerned about her now she was letting her guard down than he had been earlier. Out in the field she'd been her normal competent self and he hadn't really paused to consider how the break up was affecting her. However he was also aware that it wasn't really any of his business unless it began to cause trouble in the field.

"You can ask about the split if you like," Abby said suddenly and Matt realised he must have been staring at her.

"None of my business really. I'm happy to listen if you want to talk though."

She smiled a little sadly. "Not really. We had a counselor. Lester even fixed one up for us with the right clearances. I'm pretty much all talked out, I think. In the end we just couldn't cope in a mundane situation. Our relationship was all about stress."

Matt nodded and tried to look as though he understood, although he couldn't really imagine it at all. They'd always seemed so right for each other, like they worshipped the ground each other walked on. It seemed so hard to imagine what could go wrong. He realised, suddenly, that he felt almost bereft.

It must have shown on his face because Abby laughed. "Don't look so sad. At least with all the talking, we're both sure it's really for the best."

"I'm doing this all wrong. I should be comforting you."

"No need, I'm fine, honest." She clinked her glass against his. "I just need a bit of time to adjust. This is good. It's a change to be out somewhere without Connor. Even if it's only being muddy and tired and eating potato wedges."

"Well I can manage that, though I'm not a great conversationalist."

She laughed gently, as if she was sharing a joke with him. They ate wedges and dips, breaded mushrooms and a bowl of olives and then ordered a portion of chips just to keep them going on the way home. They chatted about reality TV, and laughed at the way Jess and Becker endless circled each other without ever seeming to make a move. By the time they left the pub Abby looked a lot more like her normal self.

* * *

2\. "So what happened with you and Emily?" Abby asked out of the blue about three weeks later.

It had become a habit for Matt and Abby to travel together to and from anomaly shouts and they often detoured via a pub, or a Little Chef and once a traditional greasy spoon cafe on their way back. Today they were in a Burger King sharing bean burgers.

"Not a lot. It seemed like we had a lot in common and then it turned out we didn't."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, not when you've been so good about me and Connor."

Matt shook his head. "It's not the same. It really never amounted to anything at all. Once we'd got over the way everything was so strange to both of us in the 21st century we just realised there was more that was different about her era and mine than there were similarities. We never even dated properly."

Abby laughed. "No one in the UK dates, not really anyway."

"Oh, well." Matt shrugged. "I learn something knew every day. What do UK people do then?"

"They go out. It's more serious than a date."

Matt frowned and felt at a slight loss. He was surprised when Abby reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "Don't worry about it."

* * *

3\. Abby remained competent in the field. Matt had never really thought about it before but he noticed it now. He noticed how she always knew where everyone and everything was. He noticed that he never had to worry if Abby had got herself in danger somehow by getting too engrossed in something, or too close to something dangerous. He never had to worry that she would spook some creature, or fire her EMD inappropriately, or act strangely in front of the public.

Then he realised he was beginning to notice how neat her figure was. He liked the way her blonde hair framed her face. He loved the focus in her eyes when she was really paying attention to something, and the small joy she took in each and every creature they successfully returned to its own time.

"What?" she asked him suddenly one day.

They were sitting on a trolley that had been used to drag an unconscious raptor to the anomaly. Since Becker's squad was in the ARC five-a-side football final that afternoon, Matt had let them go. He and Abby had remained to watch the locked anomaly with a supply of cheese and pickle sandwiches and half-a-dozen cans of coke.

"What?" she asked again and he realised he'd been staring at her, thinking about the way she had just coaxed the final baby raptor through the anomaly.

He was suddenly embarrassed. Abby grinned but continued to look pointedly at him.

"Just admiring the way you handled that raptor," he mumbled.

"Oh," she returned but she had a secret smile that suggested she thought she knew something he didn't.

4\. "You need lunch," Abby said from the door to his office.

"Sorry?" Matt looked up from the report he was writing.

"I said you need lunch. It's half past two and you've been shut in here since before I came in this morning."

Matt rubbed his forehead and stared at the computer screen. "I need to write this end of year report for Lester."

Abby made some kind of tutting sound and walked around the desk to peer at the screen. "It only needs to be a few pages."

Matt shrugged, embarrassed. "Report writing wasn't really something we concentrated on much when we were growing up."

"Do you mind?" Abby asked as she reached for his keyboard.

Matt shook his head. "Be my guest."

He watched as she paged backwards and forwards through his summaries and recommendations.

"Look, I'm not great at reports myself, but this looks almost done to me."

"You think so?" Matt had been wrestling with the words for three days now. He hated every single sentence.

"Yes. Come to lunch and I'll help you with a final polish afterwards, yeah?"

"Yeah," he said with relief.

5\. Abby said that Warwick Services could be worse and launched into a rambling tale about stopping by a service station with her Mum when she was little. She made it sound like a grim metropolis of concrete and soggy bread. 

Matt didn't really mind the restaurant they were in. The food was hot and plentiful and he'd been hungry often enough in his life to appreciate that for what it was. The surroundings were impersonal and open though and Matt suddenly realised that he wanted something else.

"You said UK people don't date," he blurted out almost without thinking things through.

"Not really, no."

"Would you like to try it?"

"What? dating?"

She was smiling so he smiled back. "Yes. I could take you somewhere a bit fancier than Warwick Services."

"A little fancier than Warwick services?" Her eyebrows shot up and he had a feeling she was teasing him.

"A lot fancier maybe."

"Don't overdo it! OK then, I think I'd like that. Let's go on a date."

* * *

6\. So now they were in a small Italian restaurant. Abby looked completely stunning. She was wearing a small black dress with a tiny jacket over her shoulders. She had penciled thick black lines around her eyes which made them stand out against her face. Matt felt a little under-dressed. All he'd done was change his shirt.

He ordered a bottle of wine and watched as Abby swilled the pale golden liquid thoughtfully around in the large glass. Then she grinned cheekily at him over the rim.

"You're always looking at me," she accused.

"You're beautiful!"

"Maybe! But you said also said that about the Dracorex we repatriated last week."

"What can I say> I have eclectic and wide-ranging tastes."

She laughed, loud and genuine and happy. He risked reaching across the table to catch her hand.

"I really was sorry about you and Connor," he had to say.

She squeezed his hand back. "And I was sorry about you and Emily, but you know, I think its time we both moved on, don't you?"


End file.
